Client-Renderable Element for Indoor Building Map

1. A computerized mapping system, comprising: a map server configured to: in a map data preparation phase: generate map data organized into a series of tiles of varying levels of detail, the map data including an indoor map of a building; generate a client-side renderable geometric element including a perimeter of the building and a client-side renderable visual feature of an internal map feature of the indoor map, at least in part by: determining the perimeter based on data contained in the indoor map; selecting the internal map feature from a plurality of internal map features based on a selection criterion set by an authorized user of the indoor map; and generating the client-side renderable visual feature for the selected internal map feature, to visually communicate the selected internal map feature on the client-side renderable geometric element; associate the client-side renderable geometric element with one or more of the tiles; in a map serving phase: receive a request from a client device to view a portion of the map data at least partially including the building for which the indoor map is available at a requested level of detail that is outside a range for displaying the indoor map; transmit a target tile with a prerendered bitmap image for the building, and the client-side renderable geometric element with the perimeter and the client-side renderable visual feature of the internal map feature of the indoor map selected according to the selection criterion set by the authorized user of the indoor map, to the client device for display.

2. The computerized mapping system of claim 1 , wherein the map server is further configured to: in the map serving phase: receive a request from the client device made in response to a selection of the client-side renderable geometric element at the client device; and transmit tiles including an indoor map of the building for display within a map view window of the client device.

3. The computerized mapping system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of internal map features are selected from the group consisting of an entrance location map feature, an exit location map feature, a public facility location map feature, and a tenant map feature.

4. The computerized mapping system of claim 1 , wherein the map server is further configured to receive a data feed associated with the at least one indoor map, and wherein the client-side renderable visual feature visually communicates a summary of the data feed on the client-side renderable geometric element.

5. The computerized mapping system of claim 4 , wherein the received data feed associated with the indoor map is selected from the group consisting of a building crowd traffic data feed, a building business hours data feed, and an event data feed.

6. The computerized mapping system of claim 1 , wherein the client-side renderable geometric element is a two-dimensional polygon formed in a location of one of the buildings, and wherein the polygon is shaped to be coextensive with a shape formed by a join of all floors of the indoor map of the building.

7. The computerized mapping system of claim 1 , wherein the indoor map is a private indoor map accessible only by authorized users; and the map server is further configured to receive user authentication credentials, and confirm based on the user authentication credentials that the user is an authorized user who has authorization to access the indoor map, prior to transmitting the tiles containing the indoor map to the client device.

8. The computerized mapping system of claim 1 , wherein the map data is organized into a series of tiles of varying levels of detail, each of the tiles having an associated bitmap image of a portion of the map rendered at a specified level of detail, the bitmap images of a subset of the tiles including graphical depictions of a building footprint for the building, and the indoor map is server-side rendered and is mergeable with the bitmap images at specified levels of detail; and the client-side renderable geometric element is associated with metadata that indicates a predetermined level of detail and a predetermined position and orientation to display a tile that includes the indoor map associated with the client-side renderable geometric element within the map view window.

9. A computerized mapping method, comprising: at a map server comprising a processor and associated memory storing instructions that when executed cause the processor to perform steps of: in a map data preparation phase: generating map data organized into a series of tiles of varying levels of detail, each of the tiles having an associated bitmap image of a portion of the map rendered at a specified level of detail, the bitmap images of a subset of the tiles including graphical depictions of building footprints for a plurality of buildings, the map data further including an indoor map for each of a subset of the plurality of buildings, the indoor maps being server side rendered in the bitmap images at specified levels of detail, wherein at least one indoor map is a private indoor map accessible only by authorized users; generating a client-side renderable geometric element for each indoor map; associating each client-side renderable geometric element with one or more tiles; in a map serving phase: receiving requests from a client device of a first user and a client device of a second user to view a portion of the map at least partially including a target tile at a requested level of detail that is outside a range for displaying the private indoor map; receiving user authentication credentials from the first user and the second user; confirming based on the user authentication credentials that the first user is an authorized user who has authorization to access the private indoor map and a second user is not an authorized user for the private indoor map; transmitting the target tile with a prerendered bitmap image including a building, and a target client-side renderable geometric element to the client device of the first user for display; and transmitting the target tile with the prerendered bitmap image including the building, without the target client-side renderable geometric element to the client device of the second user for display.

10. The computerized mapping method of claim 9 , further comprising: receiving a request from the client device of the first user made in response to a selection of the target client-side renderable geometric element at the client device; and transmitting tiles including the private indoor map of the building for display within a map view window of the client device of the first user.

11. The computerized mapping method of claim 10 , wherein the polygon is shaped to be coextensive with a shape formed by a join of all floors of the indoor map of the building.

12. The computerized mapping method of claim 9 , wherein the geometric element is a two-dimensional polygon formed in a location of one of the buildings.

13. The computerized mapping method of claim 9 , wherein in the map data preparation phase, generating the client-side renderable geometric element for each indoor map is accomplished at least in part by: determining the perimeter based on data contained in the indoor map; determining a plurality of internal map features of at least one indoor map; selecting an internal map feature from the plurality of internal map features based on a selection criterion; and generating a client-side renderable visual feature for a client-side renderable geometric element associated with the at least one indoor map, wherein the client-side renderable visual feature visually communicates the selected internal map feature on the client-side renderable geometric element.

14. A computerized mapping method, comprising: displaying a map image including a plurality of tiles, each tile including a server-side rendered bitmap image including building footprints; displaying a client-side rendered geometric element over at least one of the building footprints in the server-side rendered bitmap image, the geometric element being visually distinguishable from the building footprints in the bitmap image, the geometric element being selectable to cause an indoor map to be displayed, the geometric element being rendered to include a visual feature that visually communicates an internal map feature of the indoor map; receiving a selection of the client-side rendered geometric element; and in response to receiving the selection, causing the indoor map of the building to be displayed.

15. The computerized mapping method of claim 14 , wherein receiving the selection of the geometric element causes a request to be sent for a tile including a map image at a specified level of detail, the indoor map being visible in the map image at the specified level of detail.

16. The computerized mapping method of claim 15 , wherein performing a change in level of detail or a repositioning of the map causes a client-side animation that visually distinguishes the geometric element.

17. The computerized mapping method of claim 14 , wherein receiving the selection of the geometric element causes the tile including the map image at the specified level of detail to be displayed at a predetermined position and orientation indicated in metadata associated with the selected geometric element.

18. The computerized mapping method of claim 14 , further comprising, detecting a pointer or digit hovering over the geometric element, and in response, changing the visual appearance of the geometric element at the client.

19. The computerized mapping method of claim 14 , wherein the geometric element is rendered to include a visually distinguishing characteristic selected from the group consisting of a highlight, outline, color, shading, line pattern, line weight, fill pattern, and brightness, the visually distinguishing characteristic serving to distinguish the client-side rendered geometric element from the server side rendered building footprints when displayed at the client device.

20. The computerized mapping method of claim 14 , wherein the geometric element is rendered to have a perimeter that is visually distinguished with a bold line weight compared to server-side rendered building footprints.